The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency Box Set: "The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency" "Tears of the Giraffe asin: 0679789758 binding: Paperback list price: $38.85 USD amazon price: $25.64 USD

The No 1. Ladies Detective Agency book series by Alexander Mccall Smith is a book series where very little happens. But it's a book series where very little happens that's set in Africa!

Though the series is typically found in the mystery section of book stores and libraries, the myseteries are very simple and rarely take center stage in the books and the detective agency is just a backdrop. What's important in the series is the people and their culture.

Alexander Mccall Smith does a wonderful job of bringing his characters to life while painting an accurate portrait of what life is like in Botswana. The main character is Precious Ramostwe whom everyone calls "Mma Ramostwe" even though it's not terribly formal form of address. She started her own detective agency using the money she got from selling her late father's cattle. She's a very perceptive and resourceful woman and a very likeable character. She's a dectective because she loves helping other people and she loves her country.

When she's not working as a detective, she's typically drinking bush tea. That's just how uneventful the books often are. However, the lack of action really doesn't matter since the characters are all very engaging.

I always get a good feeling when reading the books. I breeze through them whenever I get a new one, but I go back through them very frequently. I also eagerly await new installments. I love reading about Africa and I get a good feel for the culture and environment of Botswana from reading them. I'd really like to go to Africa one day, but I guess I'll have to make due with reading about it for now.

If you don't want to buy the boxed set I linked to above, here's the amazon.com page for the series. And you can grab some bush tea while you're at it. You'll probably want some since the books talk about it so much.